U.S. fabric brands skip European shows
Carole Sloan, Senior contributing editor -- Furniture Today, September 15, 2008
The ever-shrinking presence of American decorative fabrics companies participating in offshore exhibitions is nowhere more clear than at this week's Decosit show in Brussels, Belgium.
It's not just Decosit, but other major home furnishings fabrics exhibitions like Heimtextil in Frankfurt, Germany, that are seeing a drop in the American presence.
For some companies whose production once was strictly U.S.-based, and now have added some goods made offshore, the comment from executives who are no longer showing in Europe is that “we're making our fabrics in the same place as everyone else,” and thus have less competitive advantage to tout in Europe.
This is faulty logic, however, since today's U.S. mills (and converters) could still bring their focus on creativity, design, marketing and sales to the foreign shows.
Another growing concern of executives involves intellectual property rights. Fearing knockoffs, many companies are reluctant to show their wares in a public space that is not secure. Organizers of Decosit and Heimtextil have initiated programs to help exhibitors with intellectual property issues.
What's especially interesting about this slow but steady decline of American presence on the global market scene is the advantage that we now have in currency values with our cheap dollar.
One would think that U.S. companies would accelerate efforts to capitalize on this advantage, even if it is only a temporary one. It has happened before — in every period that the dollar's value became a bargain relative to other currencies, American export sales have soared. In years gone by, American suppliers were known for their aggressive positions in export when the U.S. held a currency edge, or when domestic business was tough. In today's business environment, where both elements are in place, one would expect that the American suppliers would be even more emphatic in their efforts to grow international business.
But this time around, it just doesn't seem to be happening.
